Daily Fantasy Strategy — April 13 — For Draftstreet

Sundays are the best. Not only is the afternoon filled with baseball, today MLB has graced us with a well-staggered schedule, meaning there will be a handful of games on at any given time.

Unfortunately, staggered start times can make daily fantasy plays riskier, because it means less certainty when setting your lineup. Sure, weekdays bring that concern too, but there are normally enough 7 p.m. starts that, if you’re risk-averse in that regard, you can structure your team such that you don’t have roster spots subject to the whims of managers.

Today, that’s less apparent, and zeroes are the worst. But there are ways to work around it.

For one, lineups come out fairly early, so if you can wait right until the roster-making deadline, you can probably get lineups for games that start two hours later. In addition, context clues, especially at the riskiest spot, catcher, can tip a manager’s hand.

Day game after a night game? The previous night’s catcher or aging veteran may be a riskier play. Does a pitcher have a set catcher? And, of course, platoon considerations come into play. There’s no catch-all tip here, but the point is to be careful just selecting players that seem likely to play – only four players appeared in 162 games last season, after all.

The Daily Five
Note: I’d recommend avoiding White Sox-Indians for weather reasons. Cubs-Cardinals and Astros-Rangers also have slight storm concerns.
Tyson Ross – $12,540
The Tigers aren’t exactly a friendly match-up normally, but they’re not terrifying right now, either. Ross, meanwhile, can strike batters out and is death on right-handed hitters, of which the Tigers start plenty. Add in that the game is being played at Petco Park, in 60-degree weather and with a 14 MPH wind blowing in from left field, and this seems like a pretty good guy.

Royals stack – Kansas City draws Kevin Correia, and while Target isn’t necessarily friendly, they’ll play with an 18 MPH wind blowing out to right field. Correia doesn’t have strong platoon splits but the Royals have several players at a nice value given the circumstances.
Alex Gordon – $6,915
Norichika Aoki – $6,723
Eric Hosmer – $6,606
Mike Moustakas – $4,904

Phillies stack – Henderson Alvarez can’t get lefties out, and the game will be played in 77-degree weather with a 17 MPH wind blowing straight out from home plate. Consider, too, that Alvarez doesn’t strike anybody out, and the downside on Phillies is pretty minimal.
Ryan Howard – $6,463
Domonic Brown – $6,649
Jimmy Rollins – $7,924
Note: Ben Revere is not playing.

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